Advance your skills with the guidance of Angela Walters, an experienced quilting instructor and author of Free Motion Quilting with Angela Walters. Go from sketching simple patterns to sewing complex designs, turning your previously plain palettes into wonderful works of art. Angela will teach you how to break up negative space with a variety of motifs, including pebbles, paisleys, circles and swirls. You'll travel through a garden of stitched leaves as you incorporate different design elements to produce subtle and sumptuous surfaces. Take advantage of your quilt's empty canvas by enrolling in Machine Quilting Negative Space today!

Lesson plan

Lesson 1. Introduction

Meet your instructor, Angela Walters, and gain an overview of free-motion quilting and what you'll learn over the course of the class.

25:32

Lesson 2. Sketching: Negative Space

What is negative space? Angela answers this question as she teaches you how to sketch designs that can be used to fill in the background of your quilts.

16:57

Lesson 3. Sketching: Combining Designs

Take your machine quilting skills a step further as you tackle swirls, leaves and other unique designs that add interesting twists to your quilts.

15:06

Lesson 4. Sketching: Changing Your Scale

Love a design, but need to make it smaller or larger to fit a specific width? Angela shows you how to resize your designs and sketch them in the scale that you prefer.

9:59

Lesson 5. Echoing Quilt Designs

Angela demonstrates techniques on her longarm machine that can be used to echo various quilting designs. Additionally, you'll learn how to mark your quilt top and achieve even, professional-looking results.

27:17

Lesson 6. Stitching in Negative Space

Bring your designs from Lesson 2 to life as you quilt swirls, lines, circles and any other designs of your choosing with Angela's expert advice along the way.

17:14

Lesson 7. Quilting Designs

Follow along with Angela or create your own patterns as you learn how to work with various combinations of designs, including swirls, circles, leaves and more!

20:10

Lesson 8. Changing Scale

Practice circles, teardrops, paisley and more in various sizes to achieve a wide variety of looks. Angela also shows you how to highlight a focal point using a gorgeous technique.

20:55

Lesson 9. Intermediate Design

Kick up your design skills yet another notch as you practice intermediate designs, including wood grain, tiles, flowers and plumes.

7:03

Lesson 10. Design Gallery

To conclude the class, Angela offers quilt "eye candy" to show how many different, dazzling ways you can incorporate these designs into future projects. You'll never look at negative space the same way again!

"This class was great. Angela encourages you to try out quilting designs using a pen and paper before trying (them) on your quilt. She shows you how to combine patterns to make new ones and is very encouraging about practicing and not trying to be perfect. She has a very easy-going attitude that I found easy to listen to. She is an excellent teacher and I would love to take another class from her." - llhymanKnoxville, TN

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Lesson plan

5:03

Lesson 1. Introduction

Meet your instructor, Angela Walters, and gain an overview of free-motion quilting and what you'll learn over the course of the class.

25:32

Lesson 2. Sketching: Negative Space

What is negative space? Angela answers this question as she teaches you how to sketch designs that can be used to fill in the background of your quilts.

16:57

Lesson 3. Sketching: Combining Designs

Take your machine quilting skills a step further as you tackle swirls, leaves and other unique designs that add interesting twists to your quilts.

15:06

Lesson 4. Sketching: Changing Your Scale

Love a design, but need to make it smaller or larger to fit a specific width? Angela shows you how to resize your designs and sketch them in the scale that you prefer.

9:59

Lesson 5. Echoing Quilt Designs

Angela demonstrates techniques on her longarm machine that can be used to echo various quilting designs. Additionally, you'll learn how to mark your quilt top and achieve even, professional-looking results.

27:17

Lesson 6. Stitching in Negative Space

Bring your designs from Lesson 2 to life as you quilt swirls, lines, circles and any other designs of your choosing with Angela's expert advice along the way.

17:14

Lesson 7. Quilting Designs

Follow along with Angela or create your own patterns as you learn how to work with various combinations of designs, including swirls, circles, leaves and more!

20:10

Lesson 8. Changing Scale

Practice circles, teardrops, paisley and more in various sizes to achieve a wide variety of looks. Angela also shows you how to highlight a focal point using a gorgeous technique.

20:55

Lesson 9. Intermediate Design

Kick up your design skills yet another notch as you practice intermediate designs, including wood grain, tiles, flowers and plumes.

7:03

Lesson 10. Design Gallery

To conclude the class, Angela offers quilt "eye candy" to show how many different, dazzling ways you can incorporate these designs into future projects. You'll never look at negative space the same way again!

The instructor

Angela Walters, Instructor of Machine Quilting Negative Space

Angela is a longarm quilter, teacher and the author of several books, including Free-Motion Quilting with Angela Walters and In the Studio with Angela Walters. Her quilting career began alongside her husband's grandfather and together they made her first quilt, a nine-patch that's still on her bed today. Thousands of swirls, feathers and parallel lines later, Angela has turned her love of stitches and fabric into a thriving business focused on modern machine quilting.

Ratings & reviews

Class rating

(190 reviews)

Combining. Patterns

by taranch2534286 on June 25, 2015

I re ally do like the way you teach! Ready for the next lesson

I re ally do like the way you teach! Ready for the next lesson

Good Stuff!

by Midarm Mary on June 1, 2015

I really got a LOT from this class. I had no idea how to go about quilting designs and this class has given me the confidence to put the machine on manual, and GO FOR IT. I can now do a decent feather-not perfect, but acceptable and my swirls look pretty good. Thank you, Angela.

I really got a LOT from this class. I had no idea how to go about quilting designs and this class has given me the confidence to put the machine on manual, and GO FOR IT. I can now do a decent feather-not perfect, but acceptable and my swirls look pretty good. Thank you, Angela.

Class Instruction

by obdntk9s7169525 on May 20, 2015

Angela gives detailed instruct and variations that are easy to understand. I'm impressed by her thoroughness..

Angela gives detailed instruct and variations that are easy to understand. I'm impressed by her thoroughness..

Beginning Long Arm

by lt30102 on May 9, 2015

She breaks it down and gives ideas for variety. Loved loved loved this class.

She breaks it down and gives ideas for variety. Loved loved loved this class.

Well Thought Out Presentation

by mathea on May 6, 2015

The information is clearly presented with loads of room for flexible interpretation. No "quilt police" feel and several great methods to explore the techniques that Angela is teaching.

The information is clearly presented with loads of room for flexible interpretation. No "quilt police" feel and several great methods to explore the techniques that Angela is teaching.

Not at all! One of the great things about this class is that Angela offers a lot of different design ideas that you can quilt along with at home, but she also teaches you the skills you need in order to plan, sketch and create any design of your choosing!